Tag Archives: O2 Arena

The O2

Despite it having been built at the end of the 90s when I was still living in the UK and working in London, I have had surprisingly few times when I have seen the O2 Arena (or the Millennium Dome as it was known back then).  I didn’t head out to Docklands very often and one of my few close encounters with it was on a party on a boat that went down the Thames but, since that was a work thing, I was more engaged in conversation than looking outside.  I have seen it from planes approaching Heathrow occasionally but that is about it.

When I made me trek out to the east end of London and walked along the river back to Greenwich, I came right up to the arena.  From the riverside, you actually don’t have a good opportunity to see it clearly because you are too close to it.  It was possible to see some of the supporting cables but, since it is right up against the river, you lack an overall view.  However, I was taking the cable car across the river to get to ExCel and the elevated view this gives provided me with a far better look at the structure.

Looking through the windows of the gondola is not ideal for getting pictures and I was struggling to avoid reflections and not always succeeding.  Despite that, it was the best angle I was going to get so I took a bunch of shots.  The closest locations still had the dome obscured by the new buildings that have gone up in front of it but, as I got further across the river, the dome came more fully into view.